Saturday, December 20, 2014

My birthday is in April but when I got this voucher for an online shop full of nice gimmicks I just couldn't decide on what to get until now. Eventually I chose some items to enhance my rather boring workplace!

Like this paperclip holder. There's a little hole in the top of the dome through which you can shake the paperclips out while Mr. polar bear is watching over the rest!

Also I got this pencil sharpener with the cutest little squirrel sitting on a log which actually puts the pencil shavings to some decorative purpose. Time to give all the pencils in my office a nice sharp point!

This last item, the "pen cake" pen wrap probably isn't going to be used in my office. Most of the slots are a little too narrow for my fountain pens and I'd be concerned they might scratch each other up.

Instead I'm thinking it could be quite nice for an on the fly arts set. It's quite large in diameter so it should also be suitable for long pencils. A pencil or two, maybe some inktense or watercolor pencils, a water brush. There's also this vintage Waterman I like to use for drawing which is rather slim and already has its share of scuffs and scratches.
There's also a larger loop suitable for a rubber. The pen wrap closes with a snap-fastener and is washable.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

As you can see there's still only slight changes, maybe because these 7 are really great writers.

Still inked:
- the mystery pen aka Pelikan M1000 Fantasia (M nib), Noodler's Antietam
- Aurora Optima Nero Perla (IB nib), Sailor Sakura: a beautiful pale pink ink I haven't used in ages. Looks beautiful on smooth cream paper though the color is a little light. Could probably use more ink flow to become more saturated and more easily readable.
- ST Dupont Olympio Alligator (OM), Diamine Eclipse: I really like this oblique. It's really sensitive to angle but the line variation is amazing. Review coming up.
- Omas Ogiva Autumno (M), Stipula Verde Muschiato.
- Danitrio Mikado (0,8 italic), Noodler's Cayenne: As I've started a new journal this one is back in business as a journaling pen and I'm no longer experiencing any trouble with the ink flow. Hard to believe what a comfortable writer this huge pen is - you see how the M1000 is dwarfed by comparison.

New in rotation:
- Ferrari da Varese Botticelli (B), Diamine Majestic Blue - that one took a short trip to Italy because of nib noise. I had bought the pen pre-owned and it had been bought a few years ago but Ferrari da Varese took care of it very quickly and free of charge. Thank you FdV!
- a Sailor King of Pen resin (B), Sailor blue-black cartridge: I only traded for that pen last week. I had tried a KoP at a pen posse and was smitten by the nib immediately. Funny enough, the opportunity to own one presented itself in due course. Now I'm back to three Sailor pens (the other ones being smaller maki-e models) and the KoP nib truly is amazing.
By the way the blue black ink in the cartridge looks totally different from my Sailor Jentle bottled blue-black, much lighter and petrol-ish. Can anyone confirm that?

Thursday, December 4, 2014

This week there's no "Weekly Pens" picture as there's been virtually no change since last week! Instead the mystery pen is being unveiled.

It came in a golden cardboard box with a paulownia wood box and some papers inside. The kanji are unreadable to me but my guess would be they are spelling the name of the pen or maybe the workshop which made it? Maybe one of my readers knows?

After opening the lid of the wooden box, the pen is safely nestled within folds of cream satin.

According to Pelikan the design is inspired by kimono patterns. On a backdrop of byakudan-nuri work - flakes of gold foil covered by lacquer - cherry blossoms and hexagons are painted in different colors of lacquer. Each hexagon is filled with a traditional Japanese motif. There is also amber (I think) and raden work.

There's one with the Asanoha pattern, gold on greeen with silver center points. I really like this pattern. Might get it tattooed one day. More eye candy following:

What really makes this pen special is the idea of a non black background. It's perfect, warm and vibrant without being overly colorful (YMMV).
Right now there's a medium nib in it. Filled with Noodler's Antietam which seems to reflect the color of the reddish brown lacquer backdrop.

Monday, December 1, 2014

This week there's only a little bit of change in my pen lineup but at least a slightly better picture of it as I was able to use the DSLR instead of my phone. :D

Still inked:
- Omas Ogiva Autumno (M nib), Stipula Verde Muschiato: This one started out really dry but after some tweaking it is now a really nice and extremely comfortable writer. I really like these springy newish style nibs - the ones on my old Paragon and Bibliotheque Nationale are much stiffer.
- Omas Ogiva Vintage (stub), Diamine Red Dragon: Makes me wonder this one still hasn't run out of ink. The ink flow is impressive to say the least.
- Aurora Optima Nero Perla (B italic nib): Flushed it since the Barck Royal Blue started to flow somewhat hesitantly, then forgot to re-ink. Not sure what ink to use in it, maybe Noodler's Cayenne to use it as a backup journaling pen or something entirely different - I still have this untouched bottle of Noodler's Walnut.
- Stipula Saturno (0.9 italic), Damine Majestic Blue: Such a great pen and a nice color too (dark green/blueish ebonite) and a great writer too. Still I have hardly written a few words with it since I inked it up last week. Makes me wonder why.
- the mystery pen.

New to the rotation:
- ST Dupont Olympio L "Alligator" (OM nib), Diamine Eclipse: Last week I sold this pen's brother, a Shaman LE with the same nib grind. I figured I'd never have the two of them inked at the same time so one of them was bound to go. The shaft is covered with leather which I think really might be alligator - not really comfortable with that but at least I bought this one pre-owned.
- Danitrio Mikado (0.8 italic), Noodler's Cayenne - an exception to the 6 pens rule as it's too large for the Visconti case! Used this one for my journal the last few days but it turns out it's not the perfect pen for it either. While it's neither too wet nor too dry per se the ink flow is stop and go which usually doesn't happen with this pen - must be the combination of pen and ink or ink and paper or alle of those. Hugely annoying. However meanwhile there's only about 20% of the journal left so I might not find the perfect combination before it's filled.